Most everyone passed by him, some not even looking at him. Some offered the food they had- their left over Chinese or apples. Some offered
change, dollar bills.
His eyes were the first thing I noticed. Big and blue but
they had a sadness to them, a depth of understanding, that he had seen a lot of
the world, with all its pain. His eyes were red, like he had been drinking or
that he was tired- maybe a combination of both. He told me they weren’t that
pretty, that his 15 year-old son’s were more beautiful.
His skin was weathered and very tan, like he had been out in
the sun for days. I can only imagine how little time he spends indoors…
I met a man named George on the streets of San Diego. The
street is now his home. I listened as he told me about his life. He told me
that he had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He told me that he had been
ordered to kill many men, which he still thinks about every day. He told me, as
he saluted, that he had just been following orders, that he was just following
orders…
Homelessness breaks my heart. But more so, it’s the people I
meet along the way with no home whose loneliness envelops me and breaks my
heart. As I left him, an unusual feeling of anger arose in my chest. I started
talking with (or at) God, saying: God, how did he get here? Where is his family
to take care of him? What will happen to him? Who will love him?
Situations and circumstances like today remind me of why I
need to rely on and believe in a God who is more than the storybook Jesus I
grew up learning about. A God who doesn’t change, despite our lens or circumstances, who is loving and constant in the midst of pain
and who welcomes my questions as I wrestle with him.
I heard the Lord say: Your heart breaks for him and his
situation because my heart aches and breaks for him. He is a man that I love
with an unending, relentless love. His need and the needs in the
world are great, but I am greater. This man knows my hope, and I am taking care
of him.
People need encounters with Jesus and His love. They need
you and I to be Jesus’ hands and feet and to love with the love we have been given
and offer compassion, just as we have received compassion. People need more
than a listening ear, they need to encounter the love of God.
So, Father, I pray that George would continue to encounter
you on his own and through everyone he meets. Give your people a measure of
your grace that enables us to love everyone the way you love us, each
and every day. Enable us to look into another’s eyes and when we do, let them see your
compassion. Amen.
